The USDA Food Guide Pyramid: Operative or Obsolete?

In kindergarten, I was taught that I should eat six to 11 servings of grains, two to four servings of fruits, three to five servings of vegetables, two to three servings of dairy and two to three servings of protein all within the span of 24 hours. It was 1992, and my classmates and I understood, largely because of a for-dummies graphic on a chalk board, that all of these foods must find their ways into our bellies or we would be weak, get sick and probably never turn into the professional NBA players we all knew we would one day become.

The graphic was the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Guide Pyramid, and it permeated all aspects of my young life. Every school cafeteria in which I ate for 12 years had a poster on its wall flaunting the Food Guide Pyramid. The milk I bought for 50 cents daily had the Food Guide Pyramid stamped on its carton. Even Saturday-morning cartoons, during which a cereal commercial would remind me of how important it was to honor my food groups, weren’t off limits.

As I grew up, I learned to resent the Food Guide Pyramid for constantly reminding me of how poorly I was treating my body. I practically never consumed six servings of carbohydrates in a single day, and it shocked me that anybody in the world could actually manage to eat five servings of vegetables between sun up and sun down.

Then, in 2005, something horrifying happened. The USDA retired the 1992 version of the Food Guide Pyramid and introduced a new graphic called MyPyramid that looked nothing, with the exception of its shape, like the original version. It felt as though somebody had stolen one of my oldest friends from me, tried to replace her with a colorful cardboard cutout and then had the audacity to call the thing an upgrade.

I recognize that for many, the food guide pyramid doesn’t hold so much emotional stock, but most of the members of my generation did grow up thinking that the pyramid was the final word on nutrition. Then, one day, nevermore. How does one cope with a change like that? How do we accept that after being taught one way for the majority of our lives, we’re suddenly supposed to accept the cardboard-cutout version with a smile? I, for one, was having a hard time dealing with all this change.

And so I began looking for answers, and some of them were harder to find than others. Before the Food Guide Pyramid, nutritionists had a hard time naming food groups. In 1916, Caroline Hunt, an author and nutritionist, created five food groups: milk and meats; cereals; vegetables and fruits; fats and sugars. Then, in 1943, the USDA revealed the “basic seven,” and after World War II ended, it scaled back to the “basic four.” By the 1970s, the USDA was ready to acknowledge less healthy foods, resulting in the addition of a fifth food group containing fats and sweets.

In 1992, the Food Guide Pyramid as I remember it was released. One might have expected the overall quality of health and nutrition in the United States to increase with such a noble reminder of healthy eating. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that between the years of 1990 and 2006, every state in the U.S. had increased its obese population, many of them by more than double.

Perhaps it was this particular criticism of the Food Guide Pyramid that took the original pyramid down, or perhaps it was criticism from notable people such as Harvard scientist Walter Willet. Willet criticized the broad generalizations the USDA made in its food groups. Statements such as “all fats are bad” or “dairy products are necessary for survival” were not based in modern science. Furthermore, the original pyramid completely omitted any mention of exercise and physical activity.

The new, colorful food guide pyramid, MyPyramid, debuted in 2005 to lackluster reviews. Instead of the horizontal steps of the 1992 pyramid, the 2005 version has vertical colored stripes falling from its top. Each color is meant to represent a food group, and a man is climbing up the side of the pyramid to symbolize exercise.

Some have said that the 2005 USDA MyPyramid is just more of the same. The new food pyramid still recommends three glasses of milk a day, which many scientists say is too many for good health. The pyramid shape has lost its meaning with the disappearance of horizontal food levels. Finally, many physicians say that the USDA’s food guidance is still far too vague.

I think one lesson is becoming obvious: The health situation in the United States is not going to be cured with a cartoon pyramid. Ever. But if those same cartoon pyramids are actually hurting our health, bigger questions must be asked about our government and the people who are supposed to protect us. If the USDA continues to create new Food Guide Pyramids as popular thinking evolves, will Americans learn to eat right or simply to disregard the USDA?

For a more in-depth look at the science and politics behind the Food Guide Pyramids, check out the following:

Check out http://www.oldwayspt.org/eating-well/introduction-traditional-diet-pyramids for good, solid info, from the think tank that originally introduced the pyramid concept. It's the REAL deal - and has newer pyramids for Asian and Latino cuisine, as well as for the original Mediterranean diet.

Kris Johnson

7/16/2010 5:43:14 PM

Unfortunately even the original Food Guide Pyramid was not what it should have been, but was changed for political reasons from what the committee of nutrition experts had recommended. See the story here: "A Fatally Flawed Food Guide" by Luise Light http://www.whale.to/a/light.html
The food guide is a farce, guaranteed to appease the food and agriculture industries, and the "health" care industry, as we get unhealthier and unhealthier!

PlicketyCat

7/16/2010 1:43:46 PM

If the gov't wants to spend time and money on a food diagram, perhaps using a pie-chart that shows percentages instead of servings would be a better start. Not everyone fits into the 2000 calorie daily diet model.
Another good place to start would be to reiterate what constitutes a serving... our average food is jumbo-sized these days (although arguably less nutritious per calorie). Your average apple from the grocery store is more likely to be two servings than one, a grilled cheese sandwich is likely two servings of grain and two servings of dairy.
But the most importantly, someone needs to remind people that all food is not created equal. A Big Mac, large fries and large milk shake (6 grains, 1 vegetable, 2 meat, 4 dairy, and roughly 4 fats/sweets) is just not the same nutritional value as a grilled 6 oz steak, a loaded baked potato, steamed broccoli with cheese, corn and rice pilaf, a glass of milk and 2 scoops of ice cream (almost the same serving values).
Personally, the Food Pyramid and all it's ilk irritate me to no end. In addition to implying that all food is created equal, it also assumes that all people are created equal, have equal metabolisms and equal requirements. This is just not possible in large group of biological organisms. The 60% carbs, 20% protein, 10% fats model doesn't work for all of us... some of our bodies are actually healthier with a more even balance of carbs & protein, or even one closer to 60% protein, 20% fat, 10% protein.

Julie Casey

7/16/2010 8:29:49 AM

No matter what drawing the USDA puts out, American public school students will not learn to eat healthy until schools (supplied by the USDA) stop serving unhealthy foods like fat-laden pizza, chicken nuggets, and french fries, and sugary drinks like pop, sports drinks, and flavored milk for lunch. And I believe the dairy council has such a strong lobby in Washington that the USDA has increased the servings of milk beyond what is healthy or desirable. Virtually our entire family is lactose intolerant and are quite healthy despite never drinking cow's milk and consuming very few dairy products.

Dawn Pfahl

7/3/2010 12:05:36 PM

If the USDA spent as much time and money on introducing children to healthy food and gardening as they did on the production of a "new and improved" graphic, we'd be much better off.
We can't continue to 'advise' others on what to eat and how much exercise to get while we (the gov't) spend money left and right on anything but good nutritional plans and exercise. Our government does not showcase the best and brightest gardeners and athletes; we don't tell our kids they can be an organic farmer when they grow up... our culture is centered around old men in power and young men in sports, and neither group seems to put much emphasis on healthy eating as a way to reach your goals.
That means it's up to us as citizens to emphasize eating right for our families, friends and neighbors! Don't lobby for change - BE the change!

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